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Ebooks

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Ebooks give your audiences something to value…

How will you get in front of the hardest-to-reach people at your target customers’ organisations? And how will you convince everyone in the buying process of your sales arguments?

Ebooks are a highly effective tool. They give readers everything they need to know about a particular subject area in one place, and explain how your products and services can help them. They’re ideal for when you’ve already captured someone’s interest and started a sales conversation.

But why not just point people at the relevant content on your website? Well, you can do that. The snag is that the most readily-accessible content on your website is likely to be focused on your top-level sales arguments (…rather than detailed descriptions of how to specifically apply your products or services).

If there is an appropriate level of detail on your website, then it will (…or, at least, should…) be at least one layer down. Even if your site is well designed and clear, and even if the content can easily be linked to, there’s still a perception of uncertainty and extra work.

It’s far better to point people at a single ebook PDF that contains all the right information and no more. They can download it, read it at their leisure, easily print it out and – crucially – share it with their colleagues.

Use whatever format you need…

Ebooks come in many different shapes and sizes. There’s no set format. So that means you can do whatever suits your objectives best. The key thing is that your ebook should explain the value of your products and services in the context of one particular challenge.

Indeed, some of the best ebooks are essentially guides for how to solve a problem. They should demonstrate how knowledgeable you are about what the reader’s doing, then explain how your products and services can help.

Moreover, ebooks are usually for everyone at your potential customer’s business. They should present a complete vision of your expertise and answer each of the key decision makers’ main questions. That way, they’re more likely to be shared around, and all the conversations you have will be based on one consistent reference point.

Look at one challenge through your customers’ eyes

Focus your ebooks on the customer’s problem. Adopt a neutral tone initially and discuss the subject area objectively. Consider all the options that your customer has to solve the challenge. Aim to create a definitive and truly helpful reference guide that’s all about overcoming that one problem.

As well as establishing credibility, that will create opportunities to position your products and services favourably. Then, in subsequent sections, you can present the features and benefits of your solution, and how they will improve the reader’s business. You should also aim to answer as many of the possible questions or sales objections that anyone might reasonably have.

Be comprehensive but not exhaustive…

Ebooks should contain as much information as possible that’s relevant to everyone. But it’s not their job to include everything. They’re meant to be sales tools that are informative and enjoyable to read by all.

So yes, outline the financial benefits of your business case. Outline your technical solution and describe its benefits. And yes, explain how your customers’ operational performance will be improved by your solution.

But don’t include excessive detail that non-specialists wouldn’t be able to more-or-less understand. That can all be provided separately, directly to the experts, perhaps in a report or white paper.

Strengthen your authority with high-value assets…

Publishing ebooks on your website with descriptive landing pages helps build your authority with search engines.

Indeed, high-value marketing assets like ebooks, infographics, videos and white papers are great ways of getting other sites to create so-called ‘back links’ to your website. And those back links are vital for establishing authority, making search engines far more likely to feature your content in their results.

Cover every major base…

Ultimately, you should aim to have an ebook for every major use case of your product or service. It should be one of the first things that your sales team sends to prospective clients each time you start a new engagement.

Promote your ebooks…

Indeed, you can also use ebooks as promotional teasers. Done properly, they become tangible, valuable assets that you can build entire lead-generation campaigns around. So that might mean writing a blog or infographic, sending out a mailing and posting adverts on social media, all pointing people at your ebook.

Schedule a free, no-obligation call…

Have an informal chat about your objectives and find out more about how you can benefit.

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